If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Never had problems with Mumble+overlay and Planetside 2, personally. Using Windows 8, by any chance? That has been reported as a source of trouble for these two apps working together.

Yep Win8, it's pretty well documented on the forum, that's how I found out it was causing it. Having dug around on Mumble's site though it should be fixed in the new version, just want someone to test it for me while I'm away!

Though I think it was mostly a matter of right place at the right time, esp. with those last 3 sundies that banzai charged across open ground with no support at all! Still, an exceedingly fun run, I'd not been pulling much armour recently but that's inspired me to divert some certs magwards in the near future.

Apologies to those operating in Special Giraffes this evening. I fumbled the Mumble short-cuts and wanted to be able to talk to you as a whole so you could hear the PL more directly, but I was losing too much time to Mumble so I gave in. Despite that, I do feel communication between myself and SG leadership was fine, so it wasn't a total wipe-out.

I'd like to thank everyone this evening who operated under me. Fantastic job in taking Esamir. Sorry the fights were only near to the end of the cap, but you otherwise performed admirably.

I struggle to hear the orders sometimes (due to a combination of factors), and in addition to that sometimes even when I do hear what has been said, it isn't clear that it was an order. For instance, people saying something along the lines of 'well it looks like x is happening at y, so we should probably go there next' - sometimes this is just an open discussion of possible tactics, sometimes it is the order.

PS2 can be overwhelming (especially for the more noob-like among us), and in combination with busy comms, noise and activity in-game, people with less clear mics, and a propensity to zone-out of what's being said in chat, orders can just get lost in the mix. I would massively appreciate it if, once decided upon, orders could be repeated (more than once) and for those orders to be spoken loudly, clearly and concisely so they are easier to make out.

Apologies to those operating in Special Giraffes this evening. I fumbled the Mumble short-cuts and wanted to be able to talk to you as a whole so you could hear the PL more directly, but I was losing too much time to Mumble so I gave in. Despite that, I do feel communication between myself and SG leadership was fine, so it wasn't a total wipe-out.

I'd like to thank everyone this evening who operated under me. Fantastic job in taking Esamir. Sorry the fights were only near to the end of the cap, but you otherwise performed admirably.

I imagine it went okay. I would like to think that I managed to relay orders and intel and general encouragement from command chat to special alpha giraffes in a fairly timely fashion, but I'd like to hear some feedback on that from squad members.

in an effort to make command comms clear, I made everyone in it prio speakers, which cuts out most of the squad banter whenever there's talk in command. I'd like feeback on how you feel that works, both takin part in command chat and playing in the squads when the radio giraffe is priority speaker. Sometimes I couldn't hear Ridebird talking for instance. Don't know whether that impacted gameplay in any tangible way?

otherwise it was a good night for me. I spent most of it in my giraffe gal, ferrying alpha and a couple of ransoms about, performing radio duties meanwhile. That is a pretty good combination, by the way!

Taking the opportunity of Sinomatic's post, I want to write about some things that concern me about the game, its gameplay and metagame evolution, and how we approach them.

During the last two weeks our outfit has made significant and tangible progress in its game. The Giraffes have significantly upped their game, tactically and operationally. We stick together more, we try to flank, we can face superior forces and either win or give them a bloody nose. We came up with operational improvements like Comms Liaisons for inter-outfit cooperation, Radio Officers for intra-platoon comms, so that SLs can be more than traffic wardens or a last resort when the AMS gets blown up. We started discussing and sharing tactics, things that work in game. So more new players stick around, enjoy the game and the banter.

This community is about playing, discussing and supporting PC games. This outfits exists for members of this community to experience this particular PC game, Planetside 2. I strongly believe that the role of the outfit is to provide members of our community the means to enter and explore this great, yet cryptic to the newcomer game. And besides the horrible UI and first player experience, this also means providing a structure where they can enjoy it, and not get frustrated by looking for a fight or getting killed when there are 20 other outfit members around who could have backed them up.

Also, this PC game is getting increasingly harder. The coordination of the opposing outfits is getting better, their tactical game is becoming more natural to them. Goals and methods are evolving. Yet the community that raves on about Dark Souls: Prepare to Die and Classic Ironman in XCOM is avoiding this aspect of the game.

IMHO this community is about supporting PC gaming. And Planetside 2 thrives or dies on its players. When one of the largest outfits of a faction is not following the evolution of the game and the metagame, the faction suffers. If the faction suffers, eventually its numbers dwindle, and the game enters its death spiral.

To me, this game breaks down like this:

-The Hex Map is like the turn-based map of Total War games. Overall commanders move units to capture and defend territory. Also this is where the logistical aspect of the game takes place. The main resource is players, and the in-game mechanism for controlling resource allocation and inflation is time and distance from a spawn. Like Total War, the critical part is the distance and time you need to cover, to respond to a threat or seize an opportunity. And like Total War, you cannot spread out too thin. A concentrated force will dislodge you, and then back cap everything you gained. You spread out after you've dealt with that 20-units army, not before.

-The terrain is like the real time aspect of Total War. Commanders and PLs move their forces, with minimal intel at times, trying to defeat the enemy. In fact, it actually reminds me of Rome and Medieval, where friendly forces could enter a battle, but you had no control over them. It is also like Close Combat. It is about moving squads, trying to maneuver, provide covering and suppressing fire, flanking the enemy, etc. Also, like in TW and CC, you mainly lose because of morale. And in a game where you are immortal, losing interest or heart, and thus switching continents or logging off early, is the closest thing to a casualty.

-The base lay outs, or wherever a fight is going on, are like XCOM or Jagged Alliance maps. Squad Leaders try to coordinate their squad members to take their objective.

-And of course the FPS aspect that each one of us experiences.

The user interaction with every aspect of this game but the last is mainly through voice. No clicks, no shortcuts, just comms. Also, this is a sandbox experience, and part of the evolution of the game and the metagame is what are the players goals. The game rewards players with region resources, consumable discounts for continent locks, and XP rewards for alerts, but at least on Miller it is mainly about faction loyalty and supremacy. It is about who and how takes and holds that god-awful place that we all hate to love, Indar. It is about who is the better organised, which faction coordinates its assets and outfits the best, who has the better strategic understanding, the better operational coordination, the better tactical play. It is a disservice to the greater Miller community to not pay the proper attention to this. Which is the very metagame that everyone is asking for and talking about.

By the way, on voice comms: Splitting into 12 giraffes channels is not about reducing banter. Perversely, it is when in Platoon or Split comms that chatting with our game mates is hindered. It's either the same old voices talking (mine being one of them), or everyone shutting up so that the PL can herd the giraffes. Or, as Sinomatic points out, everyone discussing orders over each other, and when the order is given, it is not clear what it is or if it is even an order or further discussion on the subject of issuing an order. 12 giraffe channels allow for more interaction, more chat. The orders are clearer, the tactical interplay tighter, and there is time and space for more people to also relax and chat for whatever they feel like.

But this game is mainly a MMOFPS. So that means massive firefights. Just going about shooting at stuff is not what the game is. There are other and better games for this. Having 40 people to chat with while doing it doesn't make it any less a lonely gameplay experience. IMO MMOFPS means coordinating inside the squad, but also the squads themselves supporting and covering each other.

We have made progress over the last weeks, from comms organisation to tactical play, to how we should structure our events and so on. I feel that more new players have stuck around, because we have worked out the kinks. And more veterans stick around, because we have evolved our gameplay, and can approach new aspects and challenges that this vast game can offer. Yet we are going back to early bad habbits. And we are doing a disservice to this community, to the greater server community and to this game if we don't stop it now, and don't go back to evolving and bettering our outfit. Which is our way of contributing to our community and the metagame of Planetside 2.

Last edited by MrEclectic; 09-04-2013 at 10:43 AM.
Reason: Spelling, typos and vain attempts at clarity!

Hehe, that' was a bad typo. Randoms, was of course what I meant to write.

MrEclectic: Quite a long post there, and I can see your passion for the game and for our group behind it. I find it hard to find any clear point to it though. I think I can see where your frustration/concern stems from, but not really what you'd like us to do about it. Could you explain this to me?

I agree with your analysis, or most of it at any rate, I just want to know exactly what you want to get at. I guess it has to do with pushing our strategic game and communication/interaction still further in some way?

I totally agree with Sinomatic that clarity with orders is needed, by the way. One thing I try to do when playing the radio officer, as I've done increasingly often lately, is to make sure to preface any orders with some kind of sentence including that word. "New orders are to...", "We've been ordered to...", "Orders: ...", "Okay, our orders are to...". Sometimes something like, "We've been asked to/tasked with..." which is less good, really. It would probably be a good practice to always use the word "orders" whenever giving them as PL or when relaying as RO. PL: "Alright people, orders: Alpha move to A, Bravo to horizontal genny, Charlie hold northern satellite"

On another note entirely (or slightly at least); I had a little chat with Mr. ProdigalVS after our ops on Esamir, and he was impressed by our actions there. Thought we did what needed to be done; leading and directing the zerg, pulling armour when needed, and generally being bad-ass. So props to all of you guys for yesterday, especially JGMan for coordinating the RPS forces, and to Cooper for making an impression in /orders.

Yes, you have a point about clarity. I guess caffeine hadn't kicked in yet, and I have this bad habit of going all over the place.

And there were several:
-First, my analysis of the game and the metagame.

-Second, my take on what the purpose of the outfit ought to be, in relation to both the game and this community. Not only "shoot lasers", but "shoot lasers and, hey, there are some other cool stuff too".

-Third, directly related to the above, my view is that casual and tactical need not be and indeed are not opposite and competing game modes, but complementing. And that tighter tactical and operational play not only explores further aspects of this game, but is also a more welcoming platform for clear and enjoyable social interaction.

-Fourth, during the last days we've been revisiting issues, in relation to the above points, that had been resolved.

Hello all – I had a great time playing last night, although I had to log off somewhat earlier than I had hoped. What a difference being part of an outfit makes! I even made a noticeable improvement in my KD ratio, which was nice (it’s still abysmal though).

I joined the not-so-silly giraffes in the end, as I thought that might be more instructional than bridge-building.

Also – apologies to anybody who I TK’d or injured. I still have occasional issues with identifying friends or foes, and I have a habit of pulling out my pistol rather than my medic tool, which has predictably poor results when it comes to healing people. Hopefully I’ll get better before too long!

Regarding the discussion above, I thought I'd chip in with my impressions as a complete newcomer - bear in mind this was in a reasonably small platoon for only a couple of hours.

I've cast a brief eye over some of the discussion about Comms that have been going on, and last night at least I felt that there wasn't really a problem. Any confusion that I had emanated from not knowing where (for example) the SCU was, rather than from not being aware we were meant to be there. Orders were clear and concise, and generally as a squad/platoon I felt we maintained admirable cohesion and focus.

MrEclectic, I enjoyed your analogies to other games - that's a useful description of how the game works, and should be recorded somewhere more visible than in the end of a long thread. Your post as a whole was very informative, but as a newcomer I don't know what the "early bad habits" you refer to are. Certainly everything else you said appeared to make good sense!

Greatly looking forward to getting some more gametime in! Unfortunately I chose a bad week to pick this up, so I might not be around much till Saturday, but I'll see you then.

Hello all – I had a great time playing last night, although I had to log off somewhat earlier than I had hoped. What a difference being part of an outfit makes! I even made a noticeable improvement in my KD ratio, which was nice (it’s still abysmal though).

Oh god yes. It takes this game from being a confusing, chaotic, overwhelming and frustrating experience, turning it into a confusing, chaotic, overwhelming and totally satisfying experience when it works! Best move ever in any multiplayer game I've played, was joining RPS. Never had so much fun nor such a satisfying online gaming experience as playing PS2 with this lot.

I can only echo Kyndylan said. Been playing with RPS for about a week and it's been chaotic yet great so far. Been left running for miles to an objective because I was stupid enough not to ask for transport in Amerish only to finally get to the objective after it got taken and everyone had already moved on. I also felt truly embarrassed when on my first Gal drop I missed the structure and met death when I ate a sheer rock face instead - but that has just been part of the learning experience not to mention great fun none the less (don't think anyone noticed anyway but me).

Even within the short time I've been here I've already felt a seriously cool vibe from a group that's obviously passionate not just about the game but also about making this a great outfit to be a part of. So from the perspective of a newcomer, as a comment on MrEclectic Wall-of-Text, you are succeeded in creating an atmosphere that feels welcoming and relaxed yet serious about having a good time through solid tactics and good leadership. Kudos to you all - the fact that a normally shy guy like me dares post in this forum is a testament to that.

"Time is a companion, travelling with us on the journey of life, to remind us to cherish each moment as it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we lived."

Can I get a yes or no from Cooper and others that I and anyone else is allowed to start special giraffes at any time? Without me being that guy again and the discussion it led to last night? Xing up in chat is enough, no need to discuss how/why/if we have legitimate reasons.

That way no one is forced to sit in a small channel and we can just go like that. Yes, I know I first proposed a split due to us being 40+, but if we can just go special at all times in an easy and relaxed manner that does not cause any problems for anyone splits shall no longer be a problem. Everyone can just play as they want.

I just find it frustrating to play in larger groups most of the time, because were never organised and working together. Its very hard to effectively lead more then 12 in battle at the micro tactical SL level. Also entirely uninterested in more discussion, better we just do like this.